Let us commence our worship this
afternoon by singing hymn 132. The tune is Billing 849. A friend there is, your voices
join, ye saints to praise his name, whose truth and kindness
are divine, whose love's a constant flame. When most we need his
helping hand, this friend is always near. with heaven and
earth at his command, he waits to answer prayer. In 132, the
tune billing 849. Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Whose broad stripes and bright
stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? In this heavenly night, we celebrate
your creation. With heaven and earth at His
command, He waits with us to pray. Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave and cherished through his court. Illumined with the saving light
of God in heaven, ♪ Embrace him, give him his place
♪ ♪ And pull him closer from his throne ♪ ♪ Be close to him,
be close to him ♪ ♪ To make it better for you ♪ ♪
And if I did this love was true ♪ So we will, we will praise Him,
And lay our hearts with joy at His feet. This is what I really need, this
change. ♪ And may our future be blessed
♪ ♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the
land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ Let us read together from the
holy word of God, the prophet Isaiah, chapter 52. We'll read from verse 13 and
read through to the end of chapter 53. Commencing our reading at
Isaiah 52, and verse 13. Behold, my servant
shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and
be very high. As many were astonished at thee,
his visage was so marred more than any man. and his form more
than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations,
the kings shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not
been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard
shall they consider. Who hath believed our report
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it
were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken smitten
of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. and
he was numbered with the transgressors and he bared the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors. Lord bless to
us that reading of his holy word and help us in prayer. Let us pray. O Lord God of heaven and of earth,
we seek to reverence Thy great and Thy holy name as we come
before Thy throne in the attitude of prayer. We confess ourselves
as sinners, defiled in every part by sin, lost and ruined
in the fall, and Lord, we feel the effects of it right through
us. Lord, if thou shouldst look upon
iniquity, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. And Lord, it is because thou
thyself has bid sinners to call upon thee, to come before thy
throne, to ask in thy name, to plead thy name. Lord, we would
come boldly, to the throne of grace, that we may obtain help
and find mercy, obtain mercy, find grace to help in time of
need. Lord, we come before Thee who
has made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. Thou hast formed us and not we
ourselves. Thou hast placed us upon the
earth Thou has given us breath, Thou has given us a soul, Thou
has brought us to see the land and light of the living. O Lord,
we know that one day we shall see Thee face to face. We do
pray that on that day we might lift up our head with joy among
the people of God. Lord, we think of what that view
must be like to view Thee in heaven, that we've had a picture
set before us in Thy Word of a very different view, a view
that was seen and known of Thee here below. And Lord, we are
still upon the earth, and we see then that we might know Thee,
whom to know is life eternal, know Thee in Thy sorrows, know
Thee by grace, know Thee through Thy Word, and that then there
shall come that time that we shall know even as we are known. O Lord, do grant Thy blessing
upon this cause of truth. We pray Thy blessing upon the
deacons here. Be with them. Bless them in all
that they do. and all that they bear, not just
for this cause, but in helping others as well. I pray for their
dear pastor, do bless him as he ministers at Bethel, Luton
today. May he have liberty and help
in the declaration of the gospel, and do give him journeying mercies
and watchful care and strength sufficient for his day. Be with him in his path as a
widower, And Lord, do be ever nigh and present with them. Do
bless each of the church. Do bless them in their souls
and encourage them and strengthen them in their most holy faith.
And do add unto their number, the earnestly pray for each of
the congregation here, that thou would be pleased to bless the
seekers with being finders, that thou has blessed those who Do
not as yet seek Thee, that they might begin to seek Thee. Those
that are dead, do quicken them into life. Those that are careless,
make them to be concerned. Those that have been hardened,
as coming as a door on its hinges, may be many years, do cause that
there might be something, even in a portion, so familiar as
that we have read. That Thou by Thy Spirit dost
send as an arrow into the heart, and that it does what thou wilt
accomplish to be done. O Lord, we do plead thy word
that thou hast said that my word shall not return unto me void,
it shall accomplish the thing whereto I sent it. We do pray,
Lord, for the pouring out of thy Spirit upon the church and
congregation here, upon our churches, upon our denomination, O Lord,
we lay to heart those things that have happened over the years,
that have divided between brethren, brethren that have been dearly
beloved. And O Lord, we bring this before
Thee, for who can make that strain which God hath made crooked?
And O Lord, do we please to heal divisions in Zion, that where
they have been sent for a purpose, cause us to hear the rod and
who hath appointed it, and be pleased, Lord, to set us right
where we are wrong, and bring us to know the true spirit of
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. O Lord, we do humble ourselves
before Thee as part of this nation. When we think of what has been
done in our parliaments in this last week, Lord, we mourn that
the bill concerning the allowing abortion up to full term to be
legal has been passed. We mourn that these things should
be on our statute books. We mourn also that the assisted
dying bill has passed to go into the House of Lords. And O Lord,
we beg that even at that stage, that thou hast caused that it
might be overturned. We do acknowledge thy sovereign,
almighty hand. Lord, men cannot do these things
without thy divine permission, yea, rather decree. And Lord,
we as a nation have turned our backs upon thee. We've rejected
thy word. Lord, we have already killed
millions of the unborn. Already we walk in a way where
even in our parliaments we discuss these things which are acknowledged
as things of a moral nature, and yet leave Thee out of it
and bring not Thy Word into our lawmaking. O Lord, we confess
these things before Thee. We have been a nation that has
been greatly favoured, that much prayer has been answered in the
past, in the war years. and Thou hast favoured us with
peace in our land. And Lord, we have liberty and
freedom of worship, and we thank Thee for these things. But Lord,
we do feel those things that have come upon us, and we do
humble ourselves before Thee and acknowledge our sin and plead
Thy mercy. Lord, do turn it about even for
good, and let Thou sanctify these things to the Church of God. We pray also concerning the much
unrest in the world. Thou hast said that there shall
be wars and rumours of wars, but the end is not yet. And certainly
in these last months we have heard of many wars and rumours
of wars as well. And O Lord, we thank Thee that
Thou art in control, that no ruler, no nation, however great,
can ever do what Thou wilt have them not to do. Lord, we know
that Thou art in control, that providence is unfolding the book
of Thy divine decrees day by day, hour by hour. But Lord,
we do seek that we might be a people that are living close to Thee,
that are ready at such time as Thou shouldst come. Thou hast
bid us to not fear them which kill the body, And after that
there is nothing they can do but to fear Him who hath power
to cast both body and soul into hell. And Lord, do make these
things work for good, that we be not those that go through
life and nothing we hear touches or moves us or changes how we
listen or how we read or how we pray. O Lord, do grant that
these things might profoundly affect us in our prayer life,
in our seeking of Thee, our desire for a hope beyond the grave.
For this hope we earnestly pray that each year might be given
it, that good hope through grace. We thank Thee for the brethren,
we pray that they might be sustained, strengthened and encouraged.
But O Lord, do be pleased to bless and increase and build
up the Church of God. We thank Thee for the children
and young people here. You work in their hearts while
they are young. You bring them to a saving faith
in Thee. May they love Thee. May they
love their parents in the Lord. May they love the house of God,
the word of God, the people of God. O Lord, may they be drawn
by love to love and be brought to know our Lord and Saviour.
Jesus Christ. We pray for those that are in
grief and sorrow, those that walk a path of distress. Oh Lord,
we know that thy people are poor and afflicted people, and that
they often walk through paths of great sorrow. Be with them,
help them at such times. We do pray for our aims, particularly
those at Harpenton, Bethesda. O Lord, do come in for them and
do make provision for them. Do be pleased to move the hearts
of those who have the ability to make provision on their behalf
to do so. That Thou hast be pleased to
grant the Joshua's as well as the Aaron's, hers, and Moses'
rod. Lord, we do see that Thou hast
grant there to be doers amongst us. O Lord, we pray that we might
be practical Christians in every aspect of our lives. O Lord,
do wash and cleanse us from our sin, and do restrain the wickedness
of our hearts, and put a lid on our corruptions. Do grant,
Lord, that thou would rule and reign there, and that we might
know the peace of God that passeth all understanding. Lord, do be
pleased to help us now as we turn to Thy Word, to open it
up, to make it a blessing. We beg for Thy Spirit, Lord,
we are not able to bring Thy blessing down, nor even to preach
and speak Thy Word with any acceptance, with any unction, with any power,
except that same power be given that was given at the day of
Pentecost and remains with the Church ever since. We thank Thee
for that promise, though I am with You always, even unto the
end of the world. So, O Lord, do come and bless
Thy Word this afternoon. Grant help in the warmth of the
day, and we thank Thee for the lovely days. We thank Thee where
Thou hast given, some showers during the night, thunder as
well, Lord, we do thank Thee, where Thou didst balance the
sunshine and the showers, and Lord, all the beauty that we
see around us. Lord, may we see our creating
God in Him. Do grant that Thy beauty might
be established on us, Thy graces, Thy Spirit, that wist Thou to
see. So Lord, we ask Thee these things,
giving thanks for every blessing, and especially our Lord Jesus
Christ, the precious blood shed at Calvary, the record in thy
sacred word, and in the ordinances of thy house, at his intercession
in heaven, we thank thee for him. We ask through his dear
name. Amen. Let us further sing Hymn 711. The tune is Eden 327. Amidst the sorrows of the way,
Lord Jesus, teach my soul to pray. And let me taste thy special
grace and run to Christ, my hiding place. Thou knowest the vileness
of my heart, so prone to act the rebel's part. And when thou
veil'st thy lovely face, where can I find a hiding-place? M711, the tune Eden 327. you ♪ Jesus, Lord, Lord of all ♪ ♪
Lord Jesus, King of glory ♪ ♪ Heaven and earth rejoice ♪ I shall to
grace, then once in Christ, my God, be blest. When you took my heart and stole
all my love. Stranger things we have never heard or done. When there are no words, I have
only grace, Then can I find the light in grace. Through life I stay in Thee,
alone with Thee, and only Thou canst me see. I know Thou art in Christ, God's
God of great praise, Thou art in me, Thou art my guiding light. When thou wast here, O bitter
heart, Sometimes I think thou didst hurt, This silent land is all of my
friends, and seems to know them all in vain. God's pure and nice Spirit shines
within And makes me clear of worry, of sin Never have I thought to see thy
face. Tis then, my hope, have I been raised. O Jesus, shine from the heaven
above, fill us with the spirit's salvation's love. And our hearts, I see, will be
full of praise, In Christ the Savior's holy place. Speaking for the help of the
Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to Isaiah 53 and part
of verse 3. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. The whole verse reads, he is
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. In our hymns we have sung of
the sorrows of God's people. And God's people will know sorrow. Sorrow like the world does not
know. The sorrow of the world worketh
death. But the sorrow, the godly sorrow,
worketh repentance, not to be repented of. It works for good,
but those sorrows are real. and really felt. And often it
is through the sorrows of the people of God, not only what
they go outwardly, but especially what they feel inwardly as shown
by the Spirit. It leads them to consider and
think upon the sorrows of our Lord. Thy hymns have not been
on the sorrows of our Lord, but the sorrows of the Lord's people
feel that the sermon that which I wish to speak this afternoon
is on the sorrows of the Lord. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. I want to speak to three points. Firstly, the man. The man Christ Jesus. Paul writes to Timothy And he
speaks of the man, Christ Jesus, one mediator between God and
men, the man, Christ Jesus. And our text begins a man. And then secondly, the sorrows
and grief of our Lord, and especially trying to confine our thoughts
to this chapter, what the Holy Spirit has seen fit to place
here. In these verses is intermingled
his griefs, his sorrows, the reasons for it, and also the
blessings that flow to God's people through what he went through. So I want to, with the Lord's
help, divide the two So firstly, in our second point, the sorrows
and griefs of our Lord, and then in the third point, the blessings
to us through his sorrows. But firstly, the man, Christ
Jesus, a real man. We're told in James, concerning
Elijah, that he was a man subject to like passions as we are. And that may be applied to our
Lord as well, though not sinful. We think of him wearied at the
well. We think of him asleep in the shed. We think of those
things that he went through that very clearly showed he was going
through them as a real man. It's easy for us to pass over,
and I believe Satan will try to minimize the sufferings of
our Lord by saying, well, he was God. He was sustained. He didn't really feel as we feel. But if that's the case, when
we come to the description here, a man of sorrows, and of griefs,
then, acquainted with grief, it loses all its strength. We
have in the latter part that he shall see the travail of his
soul. Yes, he had a soul, real body
and real soul, the seed of Abraham, not of angels, which is just
soul, just spirit, not of beasts, which is just of the earth and
shall return to the earth, but of Abraham, made like unto his
brethren, yet sin accepted. There's another aspect of this
as well, and especially regarding those things that have been done
in our parliaments this week. The sanctity of life of man,
man who is made in the image of God. May we remember our Lord
Jesus Christ, our Adégoûté, the very bones and flesh that hung
upon the cross are now glorified in heaven. Is there not anywhere
else? The Lord is risen and He has
ascended and He shall forever be that same Jesus, the same
yesterday and today and forever. And when man was created in his
innocency, he is created in the exact form that God would be
manifest and shown and only shown, because God is invisible. No
man can see God. No man has seen God at any time. He is only manifest in his beloved
Son, in our Lord Jesus Christ. And his time upon earth, those
round about him, could see nothing different than anyone else. Looking at the outside, in fact,
we are told clearly here how that he should grow up before
him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, and no form
or comeliness. When we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. There is no outward halo
round his head, no outward beauty and attraction, is not this,
they said, Jesus, the son of Joseph, the carpenter's son. And in spite of his gracious
words, in spite of the miracles, they stumbled that he was but
a mere man. And yet in that manhood it was
absolutely vital that he should be made like unto his brethren,
made under the law and made of a woman and to redeem them that
are under the law. And when we see then that man
who is made then in the image of God, he has a position that
no beast has, even those with no looking at any arguments from
the Word of God, they can see in the creation that man holds
a position very, very different than the beast. We can teach
them and they may know wonderful things by instinct. We can teach
some to do some things that you say, well, they've got knowledge.
But it doesn't come anywhere near the intellect, the rationality,
the ability to reason that man has ought to be at the pinnacle
of his creation. And God has then set a very clear
difference between man and the beast. The spirit of the beast
that goeth downward to the earth, the spirit of man that goeth
upward, the soul of man that is eternal, that shall never
cease to exist. When we were created we had true
holiness and righteousness. and the ability to know God,
that is all lost at the fall and only restored in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But our place in creation is
still there as over His creation and in the image of God, an eternal
being that shall never cease to exist, one that must return
to God and to give an account. And so it is The most solemn
thing, when there are laws in our land that then would take
the life of a baby, life begins at conception, and then would
take and encourage the taking of life of those at the end of
life. Each one is murder, each one
is killing, it is taking a life, it is acting as if we are God,
as if we are in the position of God. But it is crucial for
us to realize as to why, why man is so distinct, so separate,
why God has set that blessing to be upon him. This whole chapter
is setting forth a redemption of man, a saving of man, and
all the work of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on this
earth as man and as truly God. All what He did is not focusing
on angels, on beasts, but on man. That is who He came to save,
to seek and to save the lost, and it is of the human race.
Embraced in our Lord's words, that God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but should have eternal life. He
has come not to save angels or beasts, but man. No man, from
beginning to end of his life, should say, well that is not
for me, my life is not worth that redemption or that weight
that God has put upon it. It is God that has put the seal
upon it and the weight upon it to sanctify man. And so when we come to our Lord,
we read that He is a man, a real man. One of our hymns says, a
man that is a real man with wounds still gaping wide, thinking of
his position in heaven. And the hymn writer there is
emphasising a real man, not just someone that looks like a man
or imitates a man, but a real man. Without the manhood of Christ,
without his holy soul, he could not be a right substitute for
his people. He could not suffer He could
not offer himself up for sacrifice. God cannot die. But God in human
flesh, God as a man, able by a willing act of his own, lay
down his life. No man taketh my life from me,
I lay it down of myself. And that life is what is set
before us here in A man, he didn't lay down his divinity, he laid
down his human life, that which had been given him. And so may
we view and hold fast that our Lord was truly man. So all of
our emotions, not the sinful ones, but all of what we feel
that belongs to us as man and especially enables us to suffer
in the way that's described here. This the Lord Jesus Christ went
through. And that is important to realise
too, if ever that we are to have fellowship with her, or ever
think from our sorrows and distresses, this is what he went through.
If we were to hear of someone that had something wrong, an
operation, something very painful happened to them. And we might
listen to what they've been through and perhaps sympathize with them.
But then after a period of time, we went through the same thing.
We suddenly realized this was the pain they felt, this was
the fear, this is what they experienced going through this. We wouldn't
say, well, they're not the same as me. They ain't got the same
feelings. I feel it much more than them.
They would easily have been able to endure this. My pains are
a lot more. We are prone to think that. We
always think that our case is a lot worse. But if we are to
have true fellowship and truly sympathise with one another,
we are the same. Years ago when I was exercised
on the ministry, one of the trials I had, or the devil tempted me,
he said, how can you stand and preach and make out that other
people are as bad as you are? That they are sinners, that they
have wicked, evil thoughts and affections and desires, and they've
got a corrupt heart just like you. How can you dare think that
anyone is like you? You cannot assert that at all.
And it was really a stumbling block to me, till I read in the
Word, As in water face anthereth the face, so the heart of man
to man. He fashioneth their hearts alike,
and we have fallen alike. And those things that are in
our hearts, they are by their side. And at a similar time one
of my cousins came over to Australia to visit us. And of course he
flew over and in those days he was able to take a photograph
in the cockpit of the aircraft with himself. And he showed me
this photograph and I just idly turned it over onto the back.
And there was a whole lot of writing on the back. And I read
through this, and he'd imagined this story that the pilot had
got ill, and he'd taken over, and he'd landed this plane. A
real fanciful story, and I thought, I could have written that. I
thought that's fanciful things many times. I could have done
just the same. And it was just like a picture from him to me. I thought, yes, our hearts are
just the same. It's important for us then to
realise as we have fallen, as we are sinners, the Lord knows
each one's heart. And when we read the Scriptures,
especially the Psalms, we're reading of the Lord's people
bearing their hearts, making bare what they've gone through.
And in our hymns like we've sung, the experience of the people
of God, The hymn writer says, here on my heart, the burden
lies, past offences, pain my eyes. And when we then come to
the sorrows for sin and the sorrows of the way and the things that
we go through, as the Lord is man, truly man, though not in
a sinful way, He knows and understands and has gone through those same
sorrows and same pains. So when we read these things
here, and when I want to set before you the sorrows and griefs
of our Lord, may we hear them as if this was one of our brethren,
one that we loved, one that we knew here below, But then maybe
really realize this is the Lord of Life and Glory. This is Him
that came, born into this world and that walked through this
world. So I want to look then in our
second point, the sorrows and griefs. A man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. A real title. as it were given
to him. What is sorrow? Intense grief,
intense loss. We have grief, it is real sorrow. Sometimes you might see someone
that has lost someone and they're inconsolable, they're just full
of grief and full of sorrow. We think of the word here, acquainted,
aware of or familiar with. We might have a person and you
hear of them. You say, I've heard of that person,
but I'm not acquainted with them. I don't really know much about
them at all. We're acquainted with something,
we're walking with it, we're experiencing it, we're feeling
it, is not just known intellectually, it's actually experienced. And so, how is it then? I want to go through the verses
of this passage and just notice because, as we said before, they
intermeshed with the blessings. I feel sometimes we can get used
to it or hardened to it, sometimes it's a help to draw out the sorrows
first and then see the blessings that come forth from that. In
verse 3 we have him, and that's the word of our text, that he
was despised and we esteemed him not. In fact he was despised
and rejected of men. Twice in that verse he was despised. Despised, looked down upon with
disdain and you think of how it was and in a way it's a beautiful
time when David went out against Goliath and there was great Goliath
as a man of war and he got an armour bearer and then he sees
David and he's got no armour, he's just got a sling and he's
a youth and he just disdained him, he despised him. He says,
am I a dog? Thou comest to me, just with
staves and with a sling. In a way, David, of course, in
lying to Christ, his greater Lord, what a spectacle. You had Israel on one side, the
Philistines on the other, and the rules were set, here's one
and one, The one that is the victor is in the victor on the
behalf of all of his people. And there in front of both sides,
David in the name of the Lord overcomes the life. In spite
of him being despised, disdained, ridiculed. But this was a path
that Our Lord walked. What do we know? And what it
is to be despised or rejected of men? We like to be well thought of,
we like to be accepted. Isn't it nice to be just rejected
and pushed away? And yet this is what our Lord
walked through. And at the end, even his disciples,
they forsook him and fled. They didn't reject him. But we
read that even his brethren, when he was in his ministry,
did not believe on him. They said, do thy miracles that
we have heard thee perform in other parts, you do them with
us. Let us see these miracles. the attitude of men. Consider
him, we're told in Hebrews 12, who endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
mind. This very first part or part
of his sorrows and griefs is an interaction between him and
those of his brethren and men, between him and men. And that
is something God's people will know right the way through their
lives. It's an interaction between them
and others. The Lord has said, I've given
them thy word and the world hath hated them. But where it comes
very hard, very difficult, is when that trouble, that sorrow,
is actually between brethren. Remember our Lord, he came unto
his own, his own received him not. It was his brethren. You think of the type of Joseph,
I seek my brethren. And what did his brethren do
to him? Did not they despise him? Didn't they ridicule him?
Didn't they say this dreamer comes, we'll see what becomes
of his dreams? They threw him into the pit,
he was sold, falsely accused, cast into prison, so many parallels
to our Lord. And all the time with Joseph
we say, it is what others are doing to him, what he is suffering
at the hand of men. And so our Lord, he went through
this as a real man. Then we have the other side.
In verse 4, this is not men now, that we esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. God himself laid his hand upon
him. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? from the cross a thousand years
before in Psalm 22, written exactly as it would be uttered. Many of those things that David
went through, as he penned them by the Spirit, they were also
what the Lord would go through, and yet he knew them too, and
God's people will know them. That part of the sorrows of the
Lord, part of that acquaintance with Grief was that which he
endured as he was smitten himself, smitten of God. Awake, O sword,
against my fellow, against my shepherd, that ye look upon him
whom they have pierced. But it is the law, the stroke
of justice that was laid upon him. Then we go back to man, or to
what he physically endured. In verse 5, he was wounded, he
was bruised, he was whipped. Right the way through, that's
that verse. We have the descriptions of the
physical sufferings of our Lord. In Psalm 129 we read that the
flowers ploughed upon my back. And that was the scourging before
the cross. We often just think of the cross,
but you don't think of the scourging with the cat-and-lion tails that
they used to use on the convict ships or use in the Navy as punishment. whips and cords with sharp objects
on them to scourge and to tear the back open, to bring that
person really to the point of death. And when on the cross,
their backs are hard against the wood to cause excruciatingly
pain, because every time that they were able to breathe, they
had to push up with their feet and their back would push up
against the timber to get one breath. That's why when they
broke their legs, it hastened death immediately, because immediately
they could not push up anymore, and they couldn't breathe. And
that's why they would have died so quickly after that. But though
gruesome, though hard, horrible as it is, it is necessary, and
it is described by the Holy Spirit in this verse, of that which
He endured in His body, in his flesh, the wounds that he had. We are bid to remember this in
the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. The prayer, this is my body which
is broken for you. You think how many places broken,
even in the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, broken,
sweating great rocks of blood. We think of the thorns on his
brow, we think of his back, we think of his hands and his feet,
and then his side. A broken body, and yet, a bone
of him shall not be broken. It was a miracle, wasn't it? That all of that suffering and
all that he went through, and yet a bone was not to be broken. But this is part of the inspired
Word of God that is describing to us the sufferings of the Lord, the sufferings of our dear Saviour. In verse 6 we have another aspect
of His suffering. The end of that verse. The Lord
had laid on him the iniquity of us all. So we're going now
from his body, from the sufferings in his flesh, to now his soul. The iniquity and sin and evil
which, when the Lord opens our eyes, we recoil at it, we think,
how can ever God dwell here? these sins, these vileness, this
rebellion against the law of God, that that should be laid
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 7, Paul says that,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And it is
said that there was one of the punishments that was ministered
to some was that they should have been tied on their back
a dead body, and that they should carry that about, nor its defilement. Our sin, this body of death,
and yet take that and lay it upon the spotless, pure, holy
Son of God. It is an aspect the natural eye
doesn't see. But the Holy Spirit would bring
us from his outer sufferings to his inner sufferings, from
his bodily sufferings to the sufferings of his soul. And then we think in verse 7, his
oppression. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. If one is oppressed, it is really
an unjust, unjust exercise of authority. If people, a nation
is oppressed, as you might say the children of Israel were in
Egypt with their taskmasters and held under. But our Lord
Jesus Christ, he was accused, falsely accused, brought before
the judgment He was brought into that way. Thinkest thou not,
he said in the garden, that I may pray my father and he presently
give me twelve legion of angels. He could have been delivered,
but he chose voluntarily not to do, to come under the Jewish
council, to come under the Romans, and how he acted is set before
us here. Yet he opened not his mouth,
and that which he went through he opened not his mouth. Brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth not his
mouth. Sufferings that you might think
would immediately cause us to speak, and to open our mouth,
and to testify what we were feeling, or to testify to our innocency,
there's nothing that is said. You know, our Lord knew for whom
He was suffering, whose sins He was bearing, the pilot could
not see. He could not see the reason why
the Lord was being led in this way and suffering as he did in
this way. We read in verse 8 how he is
taken from prison and from judgment. Very few of us perhaps have ever
been in the dock or brought in a position where judgment is
brought against us or put into prison and brought from that
prison to a judgment And especially if we thought that there was
all the evidence fabricated against us and there was no possibility
that we would escape what that judgment would be. And yet this
is what is described of our Lord, what He went through. We go back
again in verse 10, to what He endured from His Father, from
Jehovah, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him
to grief. We must say that the sentence
upon us is a divine sentence. When man sinned, in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. The actual dying,
the sentence and the curse came as a directive, as a judgement
from God Himself. Our sin didn't bring all the
sufferings in a direct way. All of those in prison, what
they endure in prison did not come as a direct result of the
crimes they committed. But the crimes they committed
brought them before judgment and it was the judgment and sentence
of the court that brought that to be upon them. And so with
our Lord Jesus Christ, what is coming upon him is by the judgment
and sentence of the divine court, of God himself. It pleased the
Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. not the Romans,
not the Jews, not men, not his brethren, that this is a divine
sentence. It's important for us to actually
view this as our Lord Jesus Christ is receiving the divine sentence
that was due to us, that should be put to our account is being
put on his account. And under this point, I just
want to look at the last verse here. He shall see the travail
of his soul. Again, it is speaking of his
soul. This is not his divine nature. This is his soul. It was said,
going back to Joseph, when his brothers, they didn't know Joseph
was listening to them, but when he was dealing hardly with them
in Egypt, They said we saw his distress. We saw his distress
of soul. They took no notice of him. They
dealt with him and sold him regardless of that distress. It is God that
sees the travail of soul. If we read the accounts of the
crucifixion, we do read his cry, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? But in a way the internal sufferings
of our Lord are more clearly set forth in this passage as
to what was going on inwardly. We have a lot in the Psalms as
well. Psalm 34 is a beautiful psalm of our Lord but it also
tells what David was going through when he changed his behaviour
before Abimelech. So we have the picture of Abimelech
and if you read that account where David is recognised as
the one that killed Goliath, You don't read of anything in
that account of what is going on in David's inward soul, but
you do in Psalm 34, and with our Lord, you do in these passages
as well. This is one thing that especially
is a mark of God's children, that they will understand what
that is, understand what travail of soul is. Others will see what
is going on outwardly, They don't see what is going on inwardly,
but He shall see, God shall see, He shall see this travail of
the soul of our Lord, and He sees that travail of our souls
as well. Travail, you think of a woman,
bring forth a child, the pain, the anguish, Things that are
going through, the fears, the faintings, the cries, the pain,
all that is going on, the travail of his soul, he shall
see it and be satisfied. So I hope just through taking
out of these passages the descriptions of his sorrow
and how he was acquainted with grief in a very very close way
and realizing that this is speaking of a man like us and the pains
and the sufferings just like we would feel and the travail
of the soul just like we would feel. Well then we come to our
third point, and that is the benefit, the blessings that come
to us through his sorrows. And before we go back through
and look at some of these, I do want to emphasize the link between
the two. I've, as it were, artificially
separated them, but the Holy Spirit has intermeshed them.
so closely that we can say there is an absolute direct link between
what the Lord suffered and the benefits and blessings for sinners
and for you and I. And so let's see what the Spirit
said of those benefits. Going back then in verse 4, we
are told clearly He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. This man, that was a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief, he's been carrying our sorrows. He's
borne our griefs. How close that comes with us
here. You say, what would we put into that verse? What would
we put as our sorrows? What would we put as our griefs?
What would we say, this is what He hath borne? The Immortal says, sinners can
say none but they, how precious is the Saviour, when they realise
what the Lord endured is what I endure. What He went through
was to bear my sorrows and my griefs. that which is known and
felt by sin. Past offences play my eyes. I've sinned, says the prodigal
son, against heaven, against thee, no more worthy to be called
thy son. That real sense of sinnership. No, sin is not an imagined thing. Everyone that is convinced of
it will point to things in their life, to thoughts, to affections,
to desires, are real things, are sin. And devil will say,
how can you be one of God's children if you have those? If you have
those thoughts, if you have those things going on. The publican, God be merciful
to me a sinner. The Lord said he went down to
his house justified rather than the other. His sorrows. This man is a friend of publicans
and sinners. Then we have in verse 5. Now when we looked at this before
I just picked out just the three descriptions of those sufferings
that he went through. But right through verse 5 is
what He has done for us, that He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. With His stripes we are healed. The blessing and benefit is right
through. What he endured, he was taking
our place. He was bearing what we deserved. What our sins deserved, our transgressions
deserved. And if we are to have peace,
that comes through what he has done. If we are to be healed,
that comes through what he has done. the blessings and benefits are
directly related to his sufferings. In verse 6, the Lord had laid
on him the iniquity of us all, part of his sufferings, but it's
a benefit and blessing for us too. If it is laid on him, then
it cannot justly be laid on us. If it was borne away by him,
it cannot then crush us for eternity. The benefit is clearly seeing
here another in our place, as clear as Isaac saw the ram in
his place, and the flame consumed that. We're told in verse 8,
for the transgression of my people was his stricken. Not all men. I lay down my life
for the sheep. The Lord has a people. His name
shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. And here he says, my people,
their transgressions, how they have broken the law of God, how
they have transgressed the commandments of God. That's why he was stricken. That's why he suffered. It couldn't
more clearly be set forth before us as to the reason why. And God is a just God. He cannot
demand two payments of one debt. It must be a just payment, a
just dealing. Then we have in verse 10, the Lord is making an offering.
This is his soul, an offering, and it's for sin. He did no sin. It's not for his own sin, but
for men's sin, his people's sin. And then we're told, that the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. The Lord not only died but rose
again, and he shall ensure the benefit and blessing of his sufferings
and death comes over to his people. By his night, in verse 11, by
his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. There's
the blessings, justification by faith. My faith would lay
her hand on that dear head of thine and there confess my sin. The benefits and blessings that
flow from Calvary are to be imparted by the Lord to his people and
it is principally in this way that they shall know his sufferings
that they shall see what is set forth here and understand it
not by word but by experience. They shall all be taught of God. They will know the same sorrows
of soul. They will know what sin has cost
the Lord. They will feel the burden and
guilt of it. They will know enough to make
them look upon him and mourn for him and weep for him and
be in bitterness for him. I, if I be lifted up above the earth,
will draw all men unto me. No man cometh unto me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. I hope, as we try to go through
this passage, that the Lord would take the words of Scripture,
my poor way of setting them forth, And draw, draw your souls to
this word. Draw your souls to this dear
man. This is what I really believe
is the way the Lord blesses through the gospel. It's like those two
in the way to Emmaus. The Lord lifted himself up there
and no doubt this passage in all the scripture, ought not
Christ to have suffered these things and enter into his glory. And you know their heart burned
within that. And that's a beautiful token.
If the Lord does that in your soul, in your heart, and as the
word is preached, as Christ is lifted up, you're drawn and attracted
to Him, and you love Him, and you're softened, that the Lord
should ever do this for you, and to go through this for you.
This is how the Lord makes known His people, and how they become
to know their interest in Him. They're bound up in this chapter,
bound up with His sufferings, they understand it like none
other would. May the Lord bless this word
and bless us to truly know the man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Let us close by singing hymn
136. 136, the tune is Omnipotence,
number 200. Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On thee when sorrows rise, On thee when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies. To thee I tell each rising grief,
For thou alone canst heal. Thy word can bring a sweet relief
for every pain I feel. In 136, the tune of Nipperton's
number 200. When you're gone, there is no
coming and no return. Come ye heavenly souls, come
over, I pray to you, come with us. Who did I tell he'd rise in grief?
Oh, how I've longed and feared! I heard him ring the sleigh-bells O'er everything I fear. Butter and honey, dust with them,
I give to glory know. The strings of comfort sing to
me, And all my friends stay calm. O gracious Lord, where shall
I be? Thou art my only cross. And still my soul would be weary,
Where God's strength may rest. As that God gave me teeth by
faith, Then shall I teeth be made, And earn the immortal great
praise, ♪ We have heard thy calling ♪ ♪
And shared thy peace of mind ♪ the air of sovereign
grace, and take them on as it were. And may I ever find it
fair, ♪ To be my children's land ♪ ♪
I love to sing this purposeful
song ♪ ♪ In it, my soul retreats ♪ ♪ With humble heart, no tender
hand ♪ ♪ Can break the oath I take ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.